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Tycoon X buys up £41m town house

ONE of the most expensive houses to change hands in Britain has been bought by a foreign tycoon taking advantage of a plan to turn a London street into Europe??s most prestigious address.

The 15-bedroom villa at 15 Kensington Palace Gardens has been sold with a neighbouring building for ??41m.

The transaction is part of an attempt by the Crown Estate, the freeholder of the street ?? which neighbours Kensington Palace, former home of Diana, Princess of Wales ?? to transform the area from diplomat??s row to billionaire??s boulevard.

The Victorian house was once the residence of the Iraqi ambassador. In the 1990s it became an annexe of the Russian embassy and reputedly served as a base for Moscow??s intelligence services.

The house price was too high even for Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch and London??s richest foreign resident.The buyer outbid Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea football club, and Lakshmi